The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West [Hardcover]

Dore Gold (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 2009

Former U.N. Ambassador Dore Gold shows why engaging Iran through diplomacy is not only futile but also could be deadly. In the West, liberal politicians and pundits are calling for renewed diplomatic engagement with Iran, convinced that Tehran will respond to reason and halt its nuclear weapons program. Yet, countries have repeatedly tried diplomatic talks and utterly failed. In The Rise of Nuclear Iran, Gold examines these past failures, showing how Iran employed strategic deception and delay tactics to hide its intentions from the West. He argues that Western policymakers underestimate Iran s hostility toward us and explains why diplomacy will continue to backfire, no matter which party or president is in power.

--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

If we stay on the path we're on....Get ready for the Ayatollahs to have the bomb.

That's the stark warning of Dore Gold, Israel's former ambassador to the United Nations and author of the New York Times bestseller Hatred's Kingdom. Diplomatic engagement with Iran, Gold warns, has never worked. Iran has pursued its nuclear ambitions at first in secret and then in defiance of the United Nations and Western protests--and it will not be stopped by Western diplomats waving olive branches and offering promises of aid or threats of sanctions. In The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West, you'll learn:

* Why a nuclear Iran could lead to a "terrorist bomb"
* Why the Arab world, as much as Israel, fears a nuclear Iran
* How Iran takes advant age of Western diplomacy
* The radical theology of the current Iranian regime--and its apocalyptic goals
* Iran's not-so-secret hegemonic aspirations for the Middle East, Islam, and even the rest of the world

Alarming and compelling, The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West, confronts us with the most important foreign policy question of our time: will Iran be allowed to become a nuclear power--and at what cost?

From the Back Cover

Insiders Warn: An Iranian Bomb Is Coming.

Time Is Running Out.

From 2003 to 2005, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator was Hassan Rowhani. He represented Iran in the key negotiations that resulted in a temporary suspension of its uranium enrichment activities in 2003. Despite being replaced in August 2005, anything he said about Iran's nuclear program was extremely sensitive. He made a staggering disclosure in a speech delivered in a closed-door meeting in Tehran as he was leaving his post, when he bragged that he had successfully outmaneuvered--and essentially deceived--the Western powers, led by the European Union, with whom he had negotiated: "When we were negotiating with the Europeans in Tehran, we were installing equipment in parts of the facility in Isfahan." Isfahan was known by Western intelligence agencies to be precisely where the Iranians had erected a facility for completing the second important stage in the production of fuel for their clandestine nuclear weapons program...
--from the Introduction to The Rise of Nuclear Iran

Praise for The Rise of Nuclear Iran

"Ever since the issue of Iran's nuclear ambitions hit the headlines, the task of shaping a response to that looming threat to regional stability has been hampered by the belief that the choices available are limited to pre-emptive war or pre-emptive surrender to the Khomeinist regime. In this authoritative study, Dore Gold, one of Israel's leading strategic thinkers, shows that other choices may be available, especially now that the regime in Tehran is facing a growing domestic opposition."
--Amir Taheri, author of The Persian Night, and former editor of Kayhan, is also a frequent contributor to the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and other publications.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing; 1 edition (August 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596985712
• ISBN-13: 978-1596985711
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #604,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Urgent Reading, August 25, 2009

By 

Joe Carrieras (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West (Hardcover)

This was not just an brilliantly informative book. It was an exciting read. But that excitement was peppered by moments of shock, fury and a sense of betrayal. That is because this is a ride through an insidious cover-up - the story of how Iran outwitted, outmaneuvered and utterly eluded Western diplomats - alongside a much more worrying story: how a regime of holy warriors reached the point where today, they're poised to get the bomb. We get deep inside the thinking behind Iran's two-pronged strategy: deceive and distract international monitors and diplomats, and attain nuclear power at all costs. No punches are pulled: Ahmadinejad and his regime are portrayed in his own words and exhortations, and in behind-the-scenes revelations, as the leader Western minds weren't built to understand. He is utterly driven by ideological, utopian visions, a leader for whom past paradigms of deterrence and cost-benefit analysis don't apply, and engagement would be equally useless. After reading this book, I take Iran much more seriously, and at its word. And I look back with shame, and outrage, at what our own leaders have done in the past - and concern that they're about to repeat the same mistakes. Mr. President, and all the rest of my fellow news-minded Americans, read this first!

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Iran's Nuclear Threat Must Be Addressed, August 24, 2009

By 

Allen Roth (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West (Hardcover)

The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West could not have been published at a better time. Policymakers and ordinary citizens will benefit from reading this fact-filled study of the origins of Iran's nuclear program, its ultimate goals, and its challenges to America and the world. Dr. Gold's evidence erases all doubts about whether Iran's theocracy has any prohibitions about using nuclear weapons: They do not. His book also documents the failures of the West in engaging this regime. Dr. Gold demonstrates how the Iranians have perfected the use of time consuming diplomatic engagements to buy time to achieve their quest for nuclear weapons.

This book incorporates the history of Iran and its nuclear program from its beginnings under the Shah to the current political upheavals within the country. It is very informative on many levels. It provides readers with valuable information about the historical and religious forces that must be understood if the West is going to effectively deal with this nuclear threat. Dr. Gold also makes it abundantly clear that if Iran attains nuclear weapons it will enhance the positions of terrorists groups like Hezzbolah. It will provide them with a nuclear umbrella that will likely lead them to become even more adventuresome.

Dr. Gold is clearly an expert on this subject and an engaging writer who takes a potentially dry topic and turns into a fascinating page turner. Readers of his best-seller Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism will have enjoyed and benefited from a similar experience.

I highly recommend The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West to anyone interested in learning more about one of the greatest challenges we face.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why Iran Must Not Get the Bomb, August 24, 2009

By 

Aron Stein - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West (Hardcover)

Dore Gold has done it again! In this well-researched and brilliantly written book, Ambassador Dore Gold explains why it is absolutely essential to the global security of the world that Iran not be allowed to get the bomb. He explains how a nuclear Iran will give a global umbrella for terrorists to act with impunity.

Ambassador Gold also clearly explains why the Obama Administration's policy of engagement with Iran is completely wrong. Iran has a long history of taking advantage of European engagement by buying itself more and more time to pursue their ultimate goal: a nuclear bomb. They engage in "diplomatic duplicity" by promising one thing to the west while doing the complete opposite.

Ambassador Gold debunks the theory of many intellectual elites who think that the world can live with a nuclear Iran. This is simply wishful thinking. Time is running out. The greatest threat the western world has faced in decades is about to emerge.

Ambassador Gold's position is well documented and well worth reading. More importantly the west had better take head of his message! I strongly recommend buying this book.